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AG: Political mischief in old OPV story

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has condemned an article making the rounds on social media on the Government’s purported multi-million dollar losses through the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) contract. In an e-mail yesterday, Ramlogan described the electronic article, Clyde shipyard bosses win £130m compensation battle, as “political mischief of the highest order”.

“It seeks to revive an old article that was published in the Evening Times newspaper on November 15, 2012, at a time when Opposition Leader Keith Rowley was publicly announcing that the Government had lost the OPV arbitration and was ordered to pay British Aerospace Engineering (BAE) hundreds of millions of dollars. The article in the Evening Times newspaper confirmed the erroneous statements that were being made by Dr Rowley here in Trinidad,” Ramlogan said.

The article, he said, was immediately retracted after he threatened to sue the newspaper. “A retraction was in fact published the following day by the Evening Times newspaper on the 16 November, 2012,” he said. “Much to the surprise, disappointment and chagrin of the Opposition, the Government emerged victorious in the OPV arbitration with BAE agreeing to pay the sum of TT $1.4 billion to the state. This settlement was arrived at after I testified and was cross examined over a two-day period in the Arbitration in London,” he said.

Ramlogan said the “misleading article has suddenly resurfaced on various PNM social media sites and is being forwarded to media personnel as part of a wider campaign design to discredit me”.